Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler met with NCDA&CS employees, agribusinesses and local leaders during a two-day trip to Western North Carolina last week. He toured construction sites of two new agribusinesses in Mills River — the Tri-Hishtil plant-grafting facility and Bold Rock Hard Cider’s cider-making operation. Tri-Hishtil is a multinational partnership formed by the U.S. company TriEst, Israel-based Hishtil and SIS/Centro SEIA […]
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Commissioner Troxler: Celebrating small farms
This past week has been a big one for ag awareness in our state. We have celebrated National Ag Day, Ag Awareness Week and N.C. A&T State University’s Small Farms Week. On Wednesday I had the honor of attending a luncheon honoring small farmers and recognizing Ryan Wiebe of Burnsville in Yancey County, who was […]
USDA seeking applications for assistance with farm energy audits
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is seeking applications from N.C. farmers who are interested in technical and financial assistance to help them get an energy audit of their operation. Funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program On-Farm Energy Initiative will be available soon. A USDA announcement says farmers should work with their local USDA […]
Today’s Topic: 75th anniversary of soil and water conservation
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.” 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of soil and water conservation in the U.S. and North Carolina. In fact, Anson County native Hugh Hammond Bennett was known as the nation’s father of soil and water conservation. Today, there […]
USDA putting $1 million into assistance for organic farmers in N.C.
A lot of information from a variety of places makes its way into my e-mail inbox. One bit of info worth passing along came from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The NRCS recently announced it was setting aside $50 million for its 2009 Organic Initiative through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. […]